How a 2001 Episode of ‘The Simpsons’ Is Stirring Up Conspiracy Theories

A 2001 episode of “The Simpsons” is being cited as evidence of a conspiracy. According to The Hollywood Reporter the episode, “New Kids on the Blecch,” is being cited by the Egyptian TV network al-Tahrir as evidence of a conspiracy that the U.S. may have incited the Syrian Civil War as part of a plot to destabilize Arab countries.

The episode is about how Bart and his friends create a boy band and release a single called “Drop Da Bomb,” which turns out to be part of a recruitment campaign from the Navy. The music video shows Bart and his friends invading an unnamed Arab country.

The story notes, “It’s a key detail that the Egyptian TV network has seized on as a possible sign of more elaborate conspiracy at work. In a brief section of the video, a jeep bears the exact same flag currently used by the Syrian opposition.”

Before the video was shown on Egyptian TV, the network’s anchor said, “The video you are about to see shows animated figures dancing, flying airplanes and dropping bombs on what must be Syria because there are other animated figures below in Arab garb and the Syrian [opposition] flag appears on one of the vehicles."

The video, the anchor alleged, “suggests that what is happening in Syria today was premeditated" and that the U.S. may have been involved, given the episode was created before the Syrian opposition even came to be.

The flag seen in the video was used in the country before 1963, the story points out.